The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for making block-shaped products, particularly packs which contain plain or filter cigarettes or other rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in machines for draping foldable blanks of paper, cardboard, plastic foil, metallic foil (e.g., aluminum or tin foil) and/or other suitable material around block-shaped arrays of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry, such as plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and cheroots.
A drawback of presently known packing machines for plain or filter cigarettes or other rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry is that the machines must employ a large number of folding members because each of two or more blanks which are converted into envelopes around arrays of rod-shaped articles must be individually folded until its conversion into an envelope is completed. Thus, if a cigarette pack is to have an inner envelope of metallic foil and an outer envelope of paper or cardboard, the conversion of a first blank into the inner envelope must always be completed before the making of the second or outer envelope can begin. This not only necessitates the provision of a large number of folding members and other parts (such as the means for moving certain folding members with reference to the blanks) but also prolongs the interval which is required to complete the making of a pack.